Dory Funk Jr. & Giant Baba vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta

[9.0] "Fantastic match. From start to finish. Never got bored. The second half of the match was amazing. Loved it. ****3/4"

[8.0] "This was not the best 30 minutes of the tag leagues but it's impressive how both Baba and Dory work that new style of japanese wrestling so well at their age - love how they tease that shitty double count out finish just to get a pop when they get back in the ring - also they finally do an exciting last big move just before the bell rings."

[7.0] "Baba gave his all here and it was wonderful. The Budokan was ecstatic for him and it made Tenryu and Tsuruta feel like small fish. The lack of quit from everybody involved in this was great. Tsuruta hit Funk with everything he had and Dory wouldn't stay down. Baba tried everything he could and Kakuryu were still standing. Draw is the best choice here when Baba and Dory were wrestling this well. It'll be down to Hansen & DiBiase vs. Choshu & Yatsu for the 1985 Real World Tag League."

[10.0] "Giant Baba would have classic matches after this one, but this is the last match of his career that would truly feel like prime Baba. By this point, he had already started transitioning into becoming a novelty act of sorts, but thankfully he had this one last great performance left in him. The match starts out with clean mat wrestling as a show of respect between both teams but the competitiveness of all four men eventually comes into play, and by the end of the match, they are trading strikes and major blows. It's a really fun match, with a ton of great and memorable moments over the second half. It's also one of the best-paced matches in the company's history. I had slept on this match for a very long time, but in my opinion, it's one of the strongest matches of the decade."

[7.0] "This is the penultimate match of the 1985 RWTL. Both teams are tied, and if either wins here and the next match ends in a draw then they win the tournament (or, if Choshu and Yatsu win, I guess there might be one extra match). However, that doesn't happen. This is as good as it was going to get, and I really enjoyed it. The experience these men have working with each other and the atmosphere makes it the best match between these two teams. The tighter 30-minute running time means that it has that advantage over the 45-minute match they had in 1983, and I'd put this above the thirty-minute draw they had in spring 1984 due to both the work and the crowd. While this match does feel out of date in light of what Ishingun has brought to this company in 1985, there's too much stuff I love here not to give it an unambiguously positive grade. That I think it's better than the 1983 draw, which I rated ***1/2, means I give this match ***3/4. And I'm pretty comfortable with that; I really didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did."